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Category: Recent Engagements

2LEAD Program Fellow Championing Trans Health in Uganda

Dr. Hirya Nahiranda is a medical doctor, and passionate advocate for inclusive health and gender-affirming care. His professional and personal journeys are deeply intertwined, each fueling the other in his mission to create safe, affirming spaces for queer and trans communities in Uganda.

Currently, he serves at Ark Wellness Hub, a queer-focused clinic that primarily serves men who have sex with men (MSM), while also providing care for a growing number of trans clients — many of whom he connects with through personal networks. His work spans general medical care, STI management, HIV prevention, and guidance on gender-affirming health, where possible within the current legal framework.

Outside the clinic, he extends his work into community education, participating in podcasts, facilitating in-person sessions, and sharing practical medical information alongside his lived experience as a trans man. These platforms have allowed him to challenge stigma, spark meaningful conversations, and bridge the gap between medical knowledge and the everyday realities of queer and trans people.

In his remarks, he says,

“My trans journey has been both the compass and the fuel for his career. Growing up, my difference was visible and often became the subject of gossip, bias, and doubt. Even in school leadership roles, my abilities were questioned not because of my competence, but because of how I looked. These experiences chipped away at my confidence, even as I kept pushing forward.

Working within Uganda’s restrictive legal environment has brought its own set of challenges. It has, at times, limited how much I could fully practice gender-affirming care beyond my personal journey. But joining the TNU 2Lead Fellowship marked a turning point. It deepened my understanding of legal realities, equipping me with strategies to work safely within them while still advocating for my community.

More importantly, 2LEAD has been a space of renewal; restoring my confidence, reconnecting me with my power, and surrounding me with a network of gender-diverse leaders. The human connections, including a close friendship formed with a fellow participant, have been deeply healing and inspiring.”

Today, Dr Hirya carries a renewed clarity. For every client he sees, every conversation he starts, and every class he teaches is a step toward the future he believes in; a future where trans and queer people have the care, dignity, and respect they deserve.

Breaking down barriers to trans and gender-diverse-inclusive healthcare in Uganda

Sarah Nangobi (not her real name) is a nurse at a public health centre in Jinja, one of Uganda’s busy commercial hubs. Like many of her colleagues across the country, she has encountered trans and gender-diverse patients seeking care. But unlike before, she no longer hesitates when they walk through her clinic doors.

“I used to feel confused when someone’s appearance didn’t match their national ID,” Nangobi admits. “I didn’t know how to address them, and sometimes I would just refer to them elsewhere because I was uncomfortable.”

If you work in healthcare in Uganda, this might sound familiar. Many medical personnel have struggled with providing services to trans and gender-diverse patients, often due to a lack of knowledge, cultural biases, or institutional barriers that leave both providers and patients frustrated.

With support from UNAIDS, this was what Tranz Network Uganda (TNU) was trying to address with its groundbreaking healthcare provider training program. As a leading advocacy organisation, TNU focuses on advancing the rights and well-being of trans and gender-diverse people across Uganda.

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Empowering Trans Communities, Advancing Human Rights

From June 3rd – 6th, 2025, Tranz Network Uganda (TNU) kicked off its 2LEAD Fellowship under the Safe Horizons Project with a four-day training in Kampala for ten (10) trans and gender-diverse fellows. This first step in the six-month program empowered fellows with skills in human rights advocacy, digital safety, peacebuilding, leadership, and self-care to address challenges like the Anti-Homosexuality Act (2023) and online violence ahead of the 2026 elections.

An overwhelming number of applications were received. A thorough selection process, guided by a dedicated committee, chose the top ten (10) fellows, balancing regional quotas and gender diversity. The training enhanced their advocacy, public policy, digital security, and AI expertise, focusing on key issues, strategy development, policy engagement, and regional action plans.

Fellows praised the practical, inclusive learning environment and peer collaboration.

“This training empowered me to advocate effectively at all levels,” one fellow noted.

Gratitude goes to facilitators and partners for this strong start. Next, fellows will join mentorship sessions, community dialogues, advocacy campaigns, and peacebuilding efforts (June-November 2025), building on TNU’s Ethnography Study to boost trans community safety in Uganda. A dissemination workshop is set for mid-November.

Join the 2LEAD Fellowship 2025: Empowering Trans and Gender-Diverse Leaders

Tranz Network Uganda (TNU) proudly announces the 2LEAD Fellowship, a transformative leadership program under our Safe Horizon Project. Running from June to November 2025, this initiative empowers trans and gender-diverse leaders from Uganda’s Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western regions to drive advocacy, community mobilization, and policy change. Through training, mentorship, community dialogues, and research, fellows will build resilient trans communities while ensuring compliance with Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA).

Seize this opportunity to lead impactful change and advocate for a safer, more inclusive Uganda!

Program Objectives:

  • Train fellows in human rights advocacy, digital and physical security, mental health, and community mobilization to lead trans-focused initiatives.
  • Support fellows to facilitate regional community dialogues to raise awareness of trans legal rights and foster collaboration with duty bearers.
  • Enable fellows to develop policy briefs and an AHA-compliant online advocacy campaign to influence policy and public perceptions.
  • Promote sustained advocacy through mentorship and research dissemination, enhancing protections for trans persons.

Who Can Apply?

We seek passionate trans and gender-diverse individuals who:

  • Are aged 18–35 and reside in Uganda’s Central, Eastern, Northern, or Western regions.
  • Are committed to advancing trans rights and community resilience.
  • Can participate fully in the program, from June to November 2025.

Benefits of Joining:

  • Develop leadership and advocacy skills through a 4-day residential training in Kampala.
  • Lead community dialogues to amplify trans voices and engage stakeholders like police and local leaders.
  • Contribute to policy change through research and advocacy campaigns.
  • Receive mentorship and networking opportunities with activists and policymakers.

Program Timeline:

  • May 2025: Preparatory phase.
  • 1st Week of June 2025: 4-day training for fellows.
  • June, August, September, October 2025: Fellows lead community dialogues, coordinated by TNU member organizations and guided by the National Trans Advocacy Committee (NTAC).
  • 3rd Week of June–November 2025: Monthly virtual group mentorship and individual sessions for peer-to-peer learning and strategy refinement.
  • June–November 2025: Fellows conduct research and develop policy briefs and position papers on trans rights, safety, resilience, and legal protections.
  • 3rd Week of November 2025: One-day dissemination workshop to share dialogue insights, briefs, and research findings.

Application Procedure and Requirements:

To apply, submit the following documents addressed to Apako Williams, Executive Director, Tranz Network Uganda:

  • Completed Application Form.
  • Cover letter (max. 1 page) outlining your motivation and relevant experience.
  • CV (max. 2 pages) highlighting your background and skills.
  • Copy of your National ID or Passport.

Email your application to info@tranznetwork.org with the subject line “2LEAD Fellowship Application 2025” by May 25, 2025.

Download the Call for Applications and Application Form for full details.

Spread the Word!

Please share this opportunity with your networks and communities to connect us with dedicated trans and gender-diverse leaders across Uganda. Your support strengthens our collective advocacy for a more inclusive future.

For inquiries, contact info@tranznetwork.org or call +256 800 344544. Join us in transforming lives and communities!

Tranz Network Uganda: Empowering Trans Communities, Advancing Human Rights

The Impact of U.S. Executive Orders on Trans and Gender Diverse Persons in Uganda

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Kampala, Uganda – April 2025

Tranz Network Uganda (TNU) is proud to launch its newest report, “The Impact of U.S. Executive Orders on Trans and Gender Diverse Persons in Uganda.” 

This timely study uncovers the far-reaching consequences of recent U.S. policy changes under President Trump’s administration, which, when combined with Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), have ignited a crisis for trans communities.

The findings are alarming. Over 77.8% of surveyed NGOs report scaling back or suspending services due to frozen funding. In many cases, life-saving health programs—such as HIV testing, ART distribution, and shelter services—have been halted. Moreover, heightened social stigma and violence are pushing trans persons further into the margins.

However, this is not just a Ugandan issue. The global ripple effects of U.S. foreign policy decisions, especially when paired with conservative donor trends, are dismantling fragile safety nets for one of the world’s most vulnerable populations. This report captures those human stories through lived experiences and qualitative data, while also calling on all stakeholders to take immediate and coordinated action.


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Key Highlights

  • Funding Freeze: 77.8% of organizations affected by halted U.S. aid
  • Healthcare Collapse: PrEP and ART programs disrupted in several regions
  • Real Voices: Firsthand testimonies reveal trauma, eviction, and survival strategies

Despite these challenges, community resilience remains. Peer-led networks are stepping in where institutions have failed, demonstrating the need for sustained funding and renewed legal protections.

🗣️ “We’ve lost so much, but we haven’t lost each other. We’re still here, still fighting, still trying to survive.”
— Trans woman, Kampala

Why This Matters

This report is more than just research—it’s a call to global action. As U.S. funding retreats and other bilateral donors follow suit, the future of trans health and human rights in Uganda hangs in the balance.


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Transgender Day of Visibility 2025: A Call for Action in Uganda

Today, on Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) 2025, we honour the strength, resilience, and courage of trans persons worldwide. In Uganda, where the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) and other repressive laws continue to endanger trans lives, visibility is more than just recognition—it is an act of resistance.

The Reality for Trans Persons in Uganda

Across the world, trans and gender-diverse persons face systemic discrimination, but in Uganda, the situation has become even more dire. Criminalization, violence, and restricted access to healthcare and social services have left many in a state of crisis. As international funding shifts and donor support becomes uncertain, the very programs that sustain trans communities are under threat.

TNU’s Groundbreaking Research and Advocacy Efforts

In response to these growing challenges, Tranz Network Uganda (TNU) has launched a comprehensive quantitative ethnography study to:

✅ Document the lived realities of trans persons in Uganda.
✅ Map available resources and identify service gaps.
✅ Lay the foundation for trans rights advocacy, security awareness, and mental health support.

This research will be instrumental in ensuring that trans-specific programs are designed to meet the community’s actual needs and advocate for sustainable policy changes.

Why Visibility Matters More Than Ever

While TDOV is celebrating trans people, it’s also a call to action. As laws and policies are constantly threatening trans lives in Uganda, we need more advocacy, mobilization, and solidarity than ever before. We must continue the fight for dignity, equality, and safety, not just today but every day.

🌍 #TransDayOfVisibility #TDOV #TDOV2025 

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Transgender Awareness Week 2024 🌍🏳️‍⚧️

Transgender Awareness Week 2024 Uganda: Advocating for Trans Rights and Inclusion

Transgender Awareness Week 2024 is here, a time dedicated to honouring and amplifying the voices of trans people in Uganda and beyond. This week, we raise awareness of the unique challenges faced by transgender people, including barriers in healthcare, restrictive laws, and social discrimination, all of which limit access to essential services and support.

Our 2022 mapping report on supportive SRH and HIV/AIDS services, laws and policies revealed urgent healthcare gaps in Uganda. Only 0.9% of health facilities offer trans-supportive Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and HIV/AIDS services. Consequently, transgender people often face inadequate care. Stigma, along with a lack of trained personnel, compounds these issues, denying transgender people the support they deserve. 🏥💔

 

Legal Obstacles for Transgender People in Uganda

In addition, the legal landscape creates further obstacles. Laws such as the Penal Code Act and the Anti-Homosexuality Act criminalize aspects of gender identity and sexual orientation, driving discrimination and excluding transgender people from many facets of public life. These laws, often misapplied, foster an environment where exclusion and abuse thrive instead of justice and equality.

 

Support Transgender Awareness Week: Join TNU in Advocacy

At Tranz Network Uganda (TNU), we are dedicated to advocacy, reform, and steadfast support for transgender rights. Above all, we envision a Uganda where transgender people live free from discrimination. This Trans Awareness Week, join us in standing for equality, dignity, and justice. Together, we can create a future where every transgender person lives with respect and pride. 🫶

 

What is Transgender Awareness Week?

Transgender Awareness Week is an important time for transgender people and allies to come together, share stories, and deepen public understanding. Throughout the week, we amplify voices to highlight the challenges faced by transgender people and work to build a safer, more inclusive society. This week builds empathy, educates others, and challenges prejudice and violence affecting transgender lives. Join us in honouring our community and advocating for dignity and equality.

Learn more about Transgender Awareness Week.

TRANSGENDER HEALTH PROGRAM

Transgender
and gender diverse persons in Uganda experience significant health and health
care inequality perpetuated by a social political and legal environment that
instigates a lot of stigma and discrimination against them.  The barriers that impede optimal access to
health care for transgender and gender diverse parsons include:  fear of discrimination, inconvenient
operating hours of public health facilities, issues of name and gender
identification of trans persons among others.

 

62%
of the respondents, from
the TNU 2018 Trans Needs Assessment, expressed needs for health
care.
 The key expressed health needs were:
HIV care and treatment
(28.1%), treatment for
sexually transmitted infections/diseases (21.0%), gender affirming
health care-surgery
(22.3%), the
need for hormones expressed (17.0%) and 11% for mental health services.  The assessment found major barriers to
accessing health care to be; lack of money to buy medicine
(22%) and for transportation to a health facility (43%) of the respondents.

 

While the public health system in Uganda
could and should meet these expressed health needs for transgender persons,
transgender persons encounter serous barriers to effectively demand, access and
utilize existing public health services to meet their health care needs. Key
the barriers that transgender persons face is stigma and discrimination in
health care settings which curtails the participation in the planning,
organization and monitoring of health service delivery.

 

The priority service components under this
program include; the trans health care center, regional drop in centers of
excellence and trans health outreach. Services provided to the community
include general medical services, wellness services, HIV prevention, Sexual
reproductive health rights and Mental health services.

 

 

TRANSGENDER JUSTICE PROGRAM

 

Although the 1995
constitution of the republic of Uganda, provides for equality and
non-discrimination of persons regardless of their race, tribe, gender,
religion, extra. The prevailing social norms and legal system in Uganda remains
very hostile towards trans and gender non-confirming persons. A transgender
needs assessment study conducted by TNU in 2018 found that a significant
proportion of transgender persons face a range of discrimination, stigma and
violence in all places. Over 41% of the transgender persons who participated in
the study have experienced violence in public places including health
facilities, restaurants and even schools.

 

Over the years, trans and
gender diverse people have been the face of the LGBTIQ+ community in Uganda
majorly because of their gender expressions. Uganda as a society is littered
with biases that continue to perpetuate stigma, discrimination, and violence
against the trans community. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Uganda, particularly LGBTIQ+ rights
organizations, continuously face challenges that include intimidation from
government, media restrictions and interference of work by government agencies.

 

As a network, we continue
to implement initiatives with the aim of changing the status quo and to build a
Uganda where trans and gender diverse persons are recognized and can freely
express themselves without any prejudices. The organization has worked in partnership with
different stakeholders to advocate for the promotion and protection of the
rights of trans persons in Uganda and has developed
strong relations with a number of CSOs and projects.

 

The priority service components under this
program include; trans health rights advocacy, access to justice, strategic
litigation and emergency response.

 

 

 

 

TRANS RESILIENCE & ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
PROGRAM

 

The
prevailing social norms and legal system in Uganda remains very hostile towards
transgender persons. A transgender needs assessment study conducted by TNU in
2018 found that a significant proportion of transgender persons face a range of
discrimination, stigma and violence in all places. Over
41% of the transgender persons who participated in the study have experienced
violence in public places including health facilities, restaurants and even
schools. The above has also been a stumbling block in access to employment and
education among trans persons in Uganda. The
assessment found that although a significant number of the respondents had
attained secondary and tertiary education, the need for improved education
access was expressed by 56% and with employment highlighted as the greatest
need, reported by 67% of respondents. The needs assessment also revealed that
over 59% of respondents (trans persons) live in households in the lower income
quintile that is under two hundred thousand shillings (200,000ugx) monthly. There are a host of
barriers to employment among the trans population in Uganda from self-stigma,
unfriendly work environments to the general lack of jobs.  It is important for
these barriers to be broken as it is widely acknowledged that conditions of
poverty and ill-health exacerbate each other in that poor health increases
expenditure on medical care and reduces productivity and hence income. The
constraints of low income in turn affect health negatively, through financial
barriers to accessing good quality medical care, dietary deprivation and
exposure to environmental risk factors such as poor sanitation and
overcrowding.

 

TNU
is taking steps towards tackling some of the underlying issues giving rise to
the above problems which include wide spread self-stigma, low skill set, low
awareness levels on government youth funding programs and the lack of organised
groupings among the trans population that would ease access to said government
funding are non-existent. Creating an alternative channel of income through
economic empowerment support and capacity building will protect trans persons
in Uganda from a life of desperation and improve their general mental welfare.

 

The
priority service components under this program include building social capital
networks through formation of groups, increasing financial literacy of the
groups,
entrepreneurship skills
development and linkage to seed capital and financial services.

 

NETWORK STRENGTHENING AND COORDINATION PROGRAM

 

 

We hope to build a sustainable network of trans
organizations in Uganda by continuously strengthening governance and management
structures, policies, and systems that align with our strategic plan.

 

We continuously make efforts to enhance the
sustainable capacity of our network’s member organizations by strengthening
their institutional capacity for the delivery of impactful programs. This is
done through the design and implementation of institutional strengthening plans
for TNU member organizations. Plus offering training opportunities to trans
leaders to enhance capacity to effectively advocate for the enhancement of
trans rights.

 

The priority service components under this program
include; establishing a trans innovations and a learning hub, regional focal
point organizations, systems strengthening for member organizations, and
regional coordination fora.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consultant To Conduct Entrepreneurship Training For Trans Leaders Needed

The project entitled “Increasing accessibility to socio-economic development prospects for Transgender persons in Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area in Uganda” is a six (6) month project implemented by Tranz Network Uganda funded by Uganda Key Populations Consortium (UKPC) with support from Hivos.

As part of the project, Tranz Network Uganda (TNU) would like to support the entrepreneurship skills development of transgender persons within the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Region. A total of ten (10) trans persons selected from TNU’s membership will be trained in business skills development, financial literacy, marketing etc. 

 

It’s on this basis that TNU would like to contract an independent consultant to facilitate a training in this regard.

Details of the tasks of the assignment are consolidated in the Terms of Reference below: